DataGrange Motorsport

The Maserati 250F.

1957 Championship

J.M. Fangio-ARG 46, S. Moss-GBR 25, L. Musso-ITA 16.
Fangio earns his fifth and fourth consecutive drivers’ championship.

Putative Constructors’ Championship
Officine Alfieri Maserati 65, Scuderia Ferrari 48, Vanderwell Products Limited 37. Maserati finally breaks through behind Fangio and claims its maiden constructors’ championship.

The Britons rise to the fore in Formula 1 as island drivers make their mark piloting Italian entries and Vanwall under Stirling Moss snares its maiden Grand Prix victory.

Fangio stands atop the tables with his twenty-eighth career P1 grid position and twenty-fourth career Grand Prix victory.

Juan Manuel Fangio Pulls Out All the Stops While Chasing Down the Leading Ferraris at the Nurburgring.

1957 RACE 6
Nurburg, Germany

4 August, Nineteenth Grosser Preis von Deutschland
Nurburgring (Eifel Circuit)

P1 Grid: J.M. Fangio, ARG, Maserati 250F 2.5 liter inline six. Pirelli (twenty-seventh, career).

M. Hawthorn (Ferrari) wins the start.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 3 with a pass.
P. Collins assumes the lead on Lap 12 as Fangio pits for service.
Hawthorn assumes the lead on Lap 15 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 21 (final lap) with a pass of both Collins and Hawthorn, and drives on to victory.

Being clever by half, Fangio starts the race on a light fuel load in order to build a lead on the ever improving Ferraris, yet his pit service at Lap 12 proves out a debacle, costing him a thirty second lead margin and dropping him back to P3. Thus unfolds one of the greatest drives in F1 history as Fangio returns to the circuit and unleashes a marvelous performance in which he establishes fast lap nine laps in succession. As the Ferraris begin the final circuit through the forest, Fangio catches and then boldly chases back Collins for P2 with a courageous sprint towards a narrow bridge that leaves the Briton reaching for the brakes in desperation. Undaunted, the Argentine tracks down leader Hawthorn a few minutes later, dives deep inside a curve, and makes an unfathomable ‘pass in the grass’ for the point and a stunningly breathtaking victory. With his performance, Fangio earns a share of the 1957 drivers’ championship, the fifth in his illustrious career, and posts his legitimate claim as the greatest driver in racing history.

1. Fangio, Maserati (twenty-fourth, career, all-time).
2. Hawthorn, GBR, Ferrari, -3.6 sec.
3. Collins, GBR, Ferrari.

Constructor Officine Alfieri Maseratii (ninth).
Engine Victor: Maserati (ninth).

Championship
Fangio-ARG 34, L. Musso-ITA 16, Hawthorn-GBR 13.

Officine Alfieri Maserati 47, Scuderia Ferrari 44, Vandervell Products, Ltd 17.

Moss' Brake Failure at the Tunnel Exit Also Collects Fellow Britons Peter Collins and Michael Hawthorn.

1957 RACE 2
Principality of Monaco

19 May, Fifteenth Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco

P1 Grid: J.M. Fangio, ARG, Maserati 250F 2.5 liter inline six. Pirelli (twenty-fifth, career).

S. Moss (Vanwall) wins the start.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 4 with a pass after a massive shunt at the Tunnel Chicane exit. Fangio drives on to victory.

1957 Monaco unfurls high drama during its early circuits when race leader Stirling Moss (Vanwall) suffers brake failure upon the Tunnel exit on Lap 4. Moss misses the chicane before slamming hard into the harbour barrier, and then in remarkably heady fashion, scrambles from his wrecked vehicle just moments before fellow Briton Peter Collins (Ferrari) exits the tunnel and hurls headlong into the wreckage.  Juan Manuel Fangio next enters the chicane and avoids the shunt with deft steering, yet Britons Tony Brooks (Vanwall) and Michael Hawthorn (Ferrari) come together upon encoutering the carnage. Brooks escapes with serious damage, yet Hawthorn skids across the track surface and joins the other two cars in the debris pile. Fangio’s adroit driving earns him the race victory, yet the surprise proves out as rookie privateer Masten Gregory, who drives his Maserati to a P3 finish in his maiden run, the first American in F1 history to stand on the podium.

1. Fangio, Maserati (twenty-second, career).
2. C.A.S. Brooks, GBR, Vanwall, -25.2 sec (maiden podiium).
3. M. Gregory, USA, Maserati (maiden podium).

Constructor Officine Alfieri Maseratii (seventh).
Engine Victor: Maserati (seventh).

Championship
Fangio-ARG 17, J. Behra-FRA 6, Brooks-GBR 6.

Officine Alfieri Maserati 28, Scuderia Centro Sud 7, Vandervell Products, Ltd 6.